Tank Tankuro
{{short description|1934 manga by Gajo Sakomoto}}
{{Nihongo|Tank Tankuro|タンクタンクロー|Tanku tankurō}} is a 1934 manga written and drawn by Gajō Sakamoto. The comic features the eponymous character, a robot-like character with a round iron body who could transform into various shapes and produce anything he wanted from the hole in his belly. He fights his archenemy, Kuro Kabuto (Black Helmet).{{Cite news|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-03-07/gajo-sakamoto-1934-tank-tankuro-manga-put-in-english|title=Gajo Sakamoto's 1934 Tank Tankuro Manga Put in English|work=Anime News Network|access-date=2017-07-11|language=en}}
Tank Tankuro is considered one of the first robot and science fiction manga, inspiring characters like Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and Fujiko Fujio's Doraemon; however it was preceded by the 1929 comic story Jinzō ningen (Artificial human) by Suihō Tagawa.{{Cite journal |last1=Ōtsuka Eiji |last2=Translated by Thomas Lamarre |date=2013 |title=An Unholy Alliance of Eisenstein and Disney: The Fascist Origins of Otaku Culture |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/mech.8.2013.0251 |journal=Mechademia |volume=8 |pages=251–277 |doi=10.5749/mech.8.2013.0251|jstor=10.5749/mech.8.2013.0251 |url-access=subscription }}
Publication history
Sakamoto published Tank Tankuro's stories as a yonkoma for the Chugai Shougyou Shimbun (current Nihon Keizai Shimbun). He felt he needed a bigger space for his stories and turned to Kodansha, presenting a draft to the editor of Yonen Club magazine. The draft was accepted, and Sakamoto published Tank Tankuro{{'s}} stories in the magazine for four years.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qg4FCAAAQBAJ&q=Tank+Tankuro&pg=PT48|title=A Brief History of Manga: The Essential Pocket Guide to the Japanese Pop Culture Phenomenon|last=McCarthy|first=Helen|date=2014-06-16|publisher=Octopus|isbn=9781781571309|language=en}}
In 2010, a collection of Tank Tankuro{{'s}} stories was published in English by Presspop.[http://www.tcj.com/preview-tank-tankuro/ Preview: Tank Tankuro] It was reissued in 2017 by Fantagraphics.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/06/20/japans-first-transforming-robot-tank-tankuro-by-gajo-sakamoto-reissued-by-fantagraphics/|title=Japan's First Transforming Robot, Tank Tankuro By Gajo Sakamoto, Reissued By Fantagraphics|last=Johnston|first=Rich|date=2017-06-20|website=Bleeding Cool News And Rumors|access-date=2017-07-11}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.ne.jp/asahi/tank/tankrou/index.html タンク・タンクローへようこそ]
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